Mr Monk and the Silver Polar Bear
by Monker
Summary: Monk is asked to solve one of the more challenging cases hes had. Sent to the zoo to find out where the silver polar bear is and why they have a dead man on their hands.
1. Called in

Mr. Monk and the Silver Polar Bear

PG

Mystery/General

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story itself.

WARNING! VERY IMPORTANT! Spoilers: Yes. If you have not yet read my first story "More Than Friends" Then this will give the ending away. If you want to read this then I suggest reading my other story first so you know the details.

"Dad could you pass the mustard?" Benjy asked signaling to the mustard across the table. Monk gladly handed the bottle of mustard to his son. It was the first dinner the family had had together sense Adrian and Sharona returned from their honeymoon.

"So Benjy what did you do with Ryan while we were gone?" Adrian asked taking a bite of his veal.

"Besides breaking you head open and getting to take your first ambulance ride." Sharona joked.

"Me? Get into trouble?" The boy said placing a hand over his heart acting appalled.

"Yeah you." She said pointing the fork at her son.

"Well we had a couple water balloon fights, hung out with Jeremy and Jason from next door, Blew up a CD in the microwave, Played Halo 2 that he got for his birthday, played hackie-sack, uh…."

"Wait wait wait! You blew up a CD in the microwave?" Sharona interrupted.

"Is that possible?" Monk put in.

"Yeah! It does this really cool rainbow thing right before it starts to melt and then its KAPOW!"

"Wow maybe we could try it after dinner!" Monk said getting excited.

"Adrian!" Sharona interrupted "You're encouraging this?"

"Well nobody got hurt Sharona"

Sharona gave Monk "the look" that all women give their husbands at some point in time. Seeing this scared Monk like being stuck on the top of the empire state building with the only way to get down was being forced to eat a plate of mushrooms and wash it down with a cold glass of milk.

Monk turned to his son, cleared his throat and said in the best parental voice he could muster "No more blowing up CD's in the microwave for you young man."

"Ahh Man. But its so much fun." Benjy replied.

"Yes, well that sorta thing is only meant for grown-ups." Monk said jokingly.

"Wait, so you get to do it?" Benjy said cocking an eyebrow.

"Well yes but not when your mothers around." Monk said in a whisper.

"Hey I heard that." Sharona said as the phone rang. She turned to look at the phone then turned to look at her husband again. And said "You're lucky the phone rang 'cause I was about to get you." She got up and walked over to the phone. "Hello"

"Sharona?" Stottlemeyer said on the other end of the line.

"Yeah?"

"Sharona we have a case here. Can you and Monk meet me in my office around 8:15?"

"Well actually we were in to middle of dinner…How bout 8:30?"

Stottlemeyer sighed "ok 8:30's fine."

"Ok"

"Ok bye."

"Bye" She said hanging up the phone.

"Hey glad you could make it." Stottlemeyer said opening the door to his office.

"Glad you could make it? Man you must really need our help." Sharona said taking a seat.

"Well we have a interesting case here."

"What have we got?" Adrian said also sitting down.

"This is what we got." Stottlemeyer dropped a file in front of Monk. Monk picked it up and began reading it as Stottlemeyer walked them through it.

"Ok so…when we were first brought in this was a stolen item case…then it turned into a missing persons case…Around 11:26 pm the alarm at the San Francisco zoo went off. The security guard checked the security cameras and noticed there was something funny about the polar bear exhibit."

"What do you mean funny?" Sharona asked.

"Well the gate was open. Any way he went to the exhibit and found that the polar bear food was still there, He also checked to see how all of the polar bears were doing. He said and I quote "I looked the cubs over first. They seemed fine. I then checked the mother and father. Now…at the zoo one of our mane attractions is Luke. Luke is a silver polar bear, the only silver polar bear in the world. When I went to see how Luke was doing he was gone."

"Somebody stole a polar bear?" Monk asked

"Well if the gate was open couldn't he have just escaped?" Sharona questioned.

"Well I asked him that. He said that Luke was the most obedient bear he had ever worked with and that he knows not to leave the exhibit with out a trainer."

"Tell me about Luke." Monk said still reading the file.

"Ok…let's see…" Stottlemeyer said flipping through Dishers notes. "Ok here it is, Gabe Johnston …he's one of the trainers at the zoo. He said, "Luke was a good bear, very obedient. He is the only silver polar bear alive! I can't even begin to tell you how many offers we've gotten from other zoo's that wanna buy him. They have offered like…something from $80,000 to like $6,000,000 to have him shipped to their zoo. But there was no way on earth we would let him go. He can also do some pretty impressive tricks let me tell you that."

Monk went on studying the file. At last he said, "I think we should take a trip to the zoo Sharona."

To be continued.

Ok my most profound apologies. This is my first time writing a mystery so I don't really know what kinda feel it's supposed to have. If you don't think I am writing this well then please send a review and tell me how you think it should be done and I will gladly except all advise you have to offer and will try my best to improve to your satisfaction.


	2. At the zoo

The next day, Monk and Sharona asked Benjy if he wanted to come to the zoo with them. Of course Benjy said yes and they were on their way.

"Now Benjy, remember Mr. Monk and me…I mean your father and I" With this Sharona turned and smiled at her new husband. Monk returned the smile and Sharona went on. "This is going to be work for us so we might not be able to see ALL the exhibits. Ok?"

"Ok," Benjy replied, looking out the car window.

"Oh, and Benjy…"

"Yeah, mom?"

"Be on your best behavior," she said.

"BENJY! That is NOT your best behavior! Now take those straws out of your nose!" Sharona said with a sharp tone.

"Sorry," Benjy said as he obeyed his mother.

"Adrian, are you sure you don't want some of my fries?" Sharona said offering her fries to Monk.

Monk shook his head violently. "N-n-no thank you. I don't want any… "Cafeteria food"" Monk said, scrunching up his nose.

"Oh, come on honey. You have to eat something. Why didn't you eat before we came?"

"I was…busy"

"Busy with what?" His wife pressed.

"Vacuuming." Monk replied.

"You didn't eat cuz you were vacuuming?"

"Well…yeah."

"Adrian I swear sometimes you're just so…" Sharona said getting frustrated.

Monk looked down at his feet. He looked hurt. He never liked hearing her mad at him.

Sharona noticed his expression.

"You know what? Just forget it." She said scooting her chair around the table, placing an arm over his shoulder and giving him a kiss.

"Thank you." He said feeling a lot better.

Monk looked around him. He never really liked cafeterias and the cafeteria at the zoo was no better then he expected. The tabletops were sticky, there was gum under the seats, the floor resembled a movie theater's floor (as sticky as the tables) and it had the greasiest, most foul looking food Monk had ever seen.

The only thing about it that Monk liked was the interesting way they decorated it. On the walls it was painted to look like one was in the rain forest, with trees, birds, plants, waterfalls, vines, bugs and even a wild animal here and there.

"Monk," Sharona said bringing Monk back from his viewing of the walls. "C'mon lets go."

Monk got up and followed Sharona and Benjy out the door.

"Hey Mom, let's go to the petting zoo first." Benjy said as they exited the cafeteria.

"P-petting zoo?" Monk said with a look of terror on his face.

"Yeah, it's this place where you can pet the-"

"I know what it is Sharona…I just don't like the idea of going there. I mean…petting animals? That's disgusting! Do you have any idea what kinds of germs are on those things? I mean it's like a grocery store for germs! And petting zoos normally have farm animals and that's the worst kind. I mean they've got pigs and cows and goats and they've got chi- "

"Dad, Dad, you're blabbering." Benjy said calming his Dad down.

"If it will make you feel any better, you don't have to pet any of the animals," Sharona said.

"It doesn't make me feel any better. I-don't-want-to-go."

Sharona pulls Monk to the side. "Look at your sons face, See the face?" Monk did as she said and looked at his son as Benjy gave him a begging, "puppy dog face". "He wants to go to the petting zoo, so I think we should. Because believe it or not, Adrian, the world doesn't always revolve around you."

"Well, can we make it revolve around me this time?"

Sharona looks at him dumbfounded then picks up her purse and hits him on the shoulder. "I got a divorce before and I'm not afraid to get another one."

"OK! Who's up for the petting zoo!" Monk says in an overly sarcastic manner.

Outside of the petting zoo there was a man giving away little baggies of food that you could feed to the animals. The man with the baggies started to talk with Sharona.

'_Does he really have to be standing that close. He's being a little too friendly in my book. I mean, can't he see the ring on her finger? I hate to say it but Sharona really has a knack for attracting dimwits…that is…before me.' _Adrian thought to himself, as he got closer to his wife and the 'dimwit'.

"…And I said, 'What do you mean you aren't my mother?'" The 'dimwit' man said as he laughed at his own joke. "So, is this your first time to the petting zoo?"

"Ahh no I've been here many times."

"Oh really you would think I would recognize someone so stunning. I mean I'll bet you turn tons of guys heads, don't you?"

"Mostly mine." Adrian said walking up and joining the conversation.

"Hey buddy I found this pretty little thing first so…go get your own."

"I already have." Monk said pulling Sharona to his side.

"Hey slick, can't you see I'm workin' here?" The jerk said in low tones that both Sharona and Monk picked up on.

"Um," Sharona said clearing her throat "I'd like you to meet my husband. Adrian Monk."

"Adrian Monk?" The man said as he burst into hysterical laughter.

"Yes you see he's my husband. We just got married. So I could become his wife and, ya know, so he could become my _husband _."

"Well we need to get going so if you don't mind I'll be taking my son and wife with me now. Nice uh…yeah bye." Monk said pulling Bengy and Sharona towards the entrance of the petting zoo.

While Benjy was petting the animals Sharona and Adrian were walking hand in hand slowly behind him. Sharona began to question Adrian. "Ok, so remind me what we're doing here again?"

Adrian sighed heavily and then began, "Well, at the meeting with Stottlemeyer which you slept soundly through I might add, he said that a special silver polar bear of some kind mysteriously disappeared from this zoo a couple of nights ago-"

"Wait, if we're homicide detectives why were we called in for a missing polar bear?"

"Well, that's when you fell asleep…and I didn't have the heart to wake you"

"Aww you're such a good husband." Sharona said with a pat on the back.

Adrian smiled and went on. "As I was saying. He said that shortly after the polar bear went missing, a body turned up at the zoo. And that's why we're here."

Just then a white drop fell from the sky and landed on the clean shoulder of Monk's jacket. Sharona tried not to laugh as they stopped and Monk slowly looked over at his shoulder. Sharona just looked at her husband. His fingers stood on end, his face was scrunched up and he was holding his breathe. He stood firmly on the ground as he waved his hand and said, "Wipe! Wipe!" Sharona tried to hurry but laughing really made it hard.

"Hey mom, look. They are giving tours around the zoo. Maybe we could get on one." Bengy said pointing to a sign.

Monk, Sharona and Benjy walked towards the information stand.

"Um, yes. Hi, I was wondering what time the tours are given around the zoo?"

"Noon" The woman behind the counter said.

Sharona turned to Monk and Benjy and said, "That's in 8 minutes…you wanna go?"

"Yeah, maybe now we can find out what happened here." Monk said.


End file.
